Design and Build

The Reconnect Thunderstorm speakers sport a very simple design, yet looks elegant. The soundbar is made of plastic, a glossy finish at that while the sub-woofer has a matte finish. One thing you’ll notice about the soundbar is that is absurdly light. The front of the sub-woofer has the playback controls and a volume dial. We weren’t quite pleased with the volume dial. It's very flimsy, wobbly and lacks the feedback that you typically find on volume dials.

Just above the buttons is a seven-segment LED display. The display is bright and is handy. It displays the volume level, audio source and also the current FM radio frequency. On the back of the sub-woofer, you have the 2 RCA audio input (left and right channels) and audio output ports for the soundbar. A SD card and USB slot on the right let you play music from external sources. Keeping the issue of the volume dial's build aside, the Reconnect Thunderstorm is looking quite impressive for its price.

Features

On the features front, the Reconnect Thunderstorm doesn’t come with anything new but its feature set is comparable to products several times its price. It is Bluetooth enabled, includes a built-in FM Radio tuner and a USB / SD card slot to play MP3s from the flash drives. There is one unique feature of this soundbar that sets it apart from its competition. The soundbar is actually two satellite speakers conjoined to form a soundbar.

If you want, you can use them as single speakers on either side by simply detaching them and using the bundled stand. However, the cable is a little short, so the speakers and the subwoofer need to be placed close to each other. There are bundled stands to keep the speakers stable when you detach them. A small remote is also bundled with the Reconnect Thunderstorm soundbar. Running on two AAA batteries, the remote lets you change source, tune into different FM radio stations and also adjust the bass and treble levels. There is no auto scanning though. The remote is also very compact and lightweight at the same time.

Performance

To test the Reconnect Thunderstorm soundbar, we played songs from different audio sources – Bluetooth and wired connections. Right from trance to hip-hop, metal and Bollywood, we played songs of all kinds of genres. On standard settings, the songs we played sounded very clear and with close to no distortion. The soundbar produces good highs and mids. Bass is average in some songs, but when we played songs with heavy bass and metal tracks, it did distort a bit.

Details in songs and vocals were clear too. Also, the amount of sharpness and bass was pretty well balanced. We than adjusted some settings using the remote by ramping up the bass at 28 (woofer settings range from 0 to 30) and keeping treble at 3 (range of -7 to +7), and things got even better. Unlike some speakers in its price range, the Reconnect Thunderstorm didn’t distort on cranking the volume to full.

We tried playing the same songs on competitor soundbars but couldn’t achieve the same quality. We feel that for the price theReconnect Thunderstorm is selling for, its performance outshines those being sold for almost thrice its price. Bluetooth performance was pretty good too, with a range of around 20 to 30ft. This makes it enough to use in a large room, without any issues.

Verdict

The Reconnect Thunderstorm 2.1 soundbar sells for under Rs. 5,000*. For this price range, it is undoubtedly one of the best soundbars you can buy. While bass lovers won't be blown away, they are perfect for those who are looking for clear sounding speakers. You can use it with your television set, PC or laptop and also connect with your smartphone or tablet using Bluetooth. We recommend this product to those considering a soundbar, but on a budget.